With Kabuto gone, and no one else to talk to, you decided to use the day to explore the hideout. You had been exploring for about an hour, and had discovered nothing. So far every single door you'd tried to open was locked, with the exception of a few unused closets. “I wonder if Kabuto has the keys hidden somewhere. This is starting to depress me a little.” Already feeling dishearten, you started to head back to your room. “Wait a minute, this isn't right.” Every hallway looked almost identical to the last, making the hideout a terrible maze. There were only subtle clues to tell you where you actually were, and you couldn't remember any of them. “I'm probably just going the wrong direction. I didn't make any turns to get here, I don't think.” You tried to remain calm as you turned around and began walking in the opposite direction. After a few minutes, you knew this wasn't the right way either. “Where the heck am I? How did I manage to get lost in a straight hallway?” No longer able to keep your fear at bay, you began running down the halls as fast as you could, hoping you might run into someone that could help you. You ran until you couldn't run anymore, and still were no closer to finding your room. “Well, that's it then, I'm doomed. I should have just stayed cooped up in that boring white room forever.” Tired from running, and screaming for help, you dropped to the ground and sprawled out, hoping to cool yourself down. “I lived an okay life. I shouldn't complain about dying now.” You closed your eyes and let out a long sigh. “Who am I kidding?” Forcing yourself back up, you once again started walking. You were screaming at the top of your lungs for help, but no one came. You had no idea how many hours passed, but you knew it had been a long time. Your lungs were raw, and your feet refused to take you any further. You had no other option but to slump down in the corner and pray that someone had heard you.

Suddenly you heard someone calling out your name. It was faint, but you knew you heard it, and you knew it was Kabuto. “Where are you? I can't find you if you won't answer me.”

“I'm here!” You wanted to rush towards the voice, but knew you'd probably just end up more lost than you already were.

Kabuto appeared a few moments later looking very winded. “How did you get all the way over here?” He leaned over, placing his hands on his knees and tried to catch his breath. “I warned you about going off on your own.”

“I know, I should have listened.” Happier to see him than you'd been to see anyone else in your entire life, you rushed towards him, wrapped your arms around him and knocked him onto the ground. “I swear, I will listen to what you say from now on.” You squeezed him tighter, pressing your face to his still heaving chest. “I seriously thought I was going to die.”

“Well you're not dying, so you could really get off of me now.” Kabuto tried to smile. “I really can't breathe very well with you on top of me.”

“Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot about your little breathing problem.” Blushing slightly, you crawled off of him, stood to your feet and offered him your hand. “I'm really hungry. If you can breathe again, I'm more than ready to get back.”

Kabuto accepted your hand and pulled himself up. After quickly brushing himself off, he began leading you back to your room. “As am I. I will warn you though, we're rather far from our wing. So getting back will take a few moments.” He pushed up his glasses and looked at you out of the corner of his eye. “I really am curious though. How did you manage to get way out here? I've never even been this far into the hideout.”

“Oh that's easy.” You laughed. “I just kept running. I think I was lost before I even started.”

Your confession amused Kabuto, but he managed to keep a straight face. “I had no idea you had such a terrible sense of direction. Perhaps you should hold my hand, just to be safe.” He just barely moved his hand closer to yours, but pulled back before you had a chance to take it. “Never mind, I'm sure you'll be just fine. We are right next to each other after all.”

“That's real smooth Kabuto, but I'm not buying it. Now give me your hand.” You held your hand out and waited for him to take it. Finally, he pulled his hand out of his pocket and slowly took your hand. “Weirdo, acting all shy.” The atmosphere became strangely tense and awkward. For this reason, neither of you spoke until you were back in the small area you and Kabuto called home.

You released Kabutos hand and happily fell face first into the old, comfortable couch. “I don't think I will be going anywhere for a very long time. Heck, I don't even think I'm going to leave this couch for a week or two.” As you began sinking into the cushions, a question popped into your head. “Hey Kabuto, how did you find me? You were way too far away to hear me yelling, and I didn't leave you a note or anything like that.”

Kabuto's face was instantly red, alerting you that something wasn't right. “I was just lucky. I saw that you weren't here, so I went looking for you. It's as simple as that.”

“Oh really?” You raised an eyebrow, not at all impressed with his story. “So let me get this straight. You went looking for me, in a place you'd never even been before? That really doesn't make much sense at all.” You sat up, leaned onto your knees and pulled him down onto the couch. “I'll ask you again, since you just lied to me for some reason. How did you really find me?”

Very, very reluctantly, Kabuto began to speak. “When I first brought you here, I put a tracking device inside of your right shoe. I had a feeling you might try to find your way out one day, and I wanted to be able to find you. To be quite honest, I had forgotten about it completely until today.”

“You put a tracking device in my shoe?” You couldn't help but be a little upset. Sure his device had come in handy, but it was still weird and intrusive.

“I'm sorry, I'll take it out if you like. As I said, it was only done as a precaution.” Without answering him, you pulled off your shoe, shoved it into his lap and stomped off to the kitchen wearing only one shoe. “That didn't go very well.”

The minute you were far enough away from Kabuto, you began feeling guilty. You didn't know why, but you could never seem to stay mad at him for more than a sew minutes. “That might have been a little rude. He did save me back there. I should probably apologize. I hate apologizing.” As you wrestled with yourself, Kabuto entered the kitchen unnoticed. You dropped your head against the empty, wooden cabinets and sighed. “Yup, I'm going to have to apologize. I wonder if I could get out of it if I made him cookies.”

“You really don't need to apologize. After all, I had no right to invade your privacy.” Kabuto placed your shoe on the table and gently rested his hand on your shoulder. “I would ask however, that you don't give yourself a concussion on the cabinets.”

“O-oh, yeah. I'll not do that then.” Trying to hide your embarrassment, you rubbed your forehead where you'd hit it on the cabinets. “Is it red?”

“Your whole face is pretty red actually.” His answer only made things worse. But at least he was blushing too. “Are you still upset?”

You dropped your head to your chest, feeling rather stupid over the whole thing. “No, I over reacted.” Not really knowing what you should say at this point, you hugged him. To your surprise, Kabuto returned your hug. It was the first time the two of you had hugged without everything getting extremely awkward. “That worked out pretty well. Have you been practicing your hugs?”

“No. I've just come to realize you use hugs to express a lot f your emotions, so I figured I'd better get used to them.” soon after he stopped talking, the awkwardness set in. “I shouldn't have said anything. We can stop hugging now.”

You ended the hug, kissed his flushed cheek and happily smiled up at him. “Well, it was nice while it lasted. I'll just have to keep hugging you until you get used to it.”

Kabuto pressed his fingers against the thin frame of his glasses and slowly shook his head. “Oh joy.”